Delay of game: Casino decision didn't need to take so long

Dan Gleiter, The Patriot-News/fileNemacolin was the safe choice for the Gaming Control Board.

So in the end, Nemacolin won the wager.

With Thursday’s announcement that the resort near Pittsburgh nabbed the state’s last resort casino license, the state’s Gaming Control Board clarified the future for two other prospects located within the midstate and for a resort in the Poconos.

Of these, a Gettysburg location had garnered the greatest attention — and national condemnation — due to concerns it would be too close to the battlefield.

Revamping the existing Eisenhower Hotel and Convention Center into an Adams County resort and casino could have brought in more money for taxpayers. This editorial board supported the idea of bringing that business boost to our region.

On the other hand, we believed the idea of creating a casino at the Holiday Inn in Hampden Twp. would have been wrong for many reasons, including that it would cause more traffic in an already-congested area and that counting RVs as hotel rooms was nonsense.

Simply adding a casino to an existing resort appears to have been easier to swallow.

The license will allow Nemacolin Woodlands Resort to install 600 slot machines and 50 table games at its Fayette County location. The setup is expected to happen there quickly.

What didn’t occur nearly as fast as it could have, however, was the Gaming Control Board’s decision. Why did it take so long to arrive at the result? In the end, the time lapse means the state cannot garner the tax advantage that is the whole reason we created gambling in Pennsylvania in the first place.

The hotly anticipated announcement on the resort license was delayed more than twice. And when the membership of the board changed at the beginning of this year, some feared the process would have to start all over again. Thankfully, the board avoided that costly maneuver.

This is not the only frustration right now. We still are wading through the legal and political row over the stalled Foxwoods Resort Casino project in Philadelphia. The developer at this point is fighting to get a $275 million casino built in Philadelphia.

It recently filed an appeal after the board rightfully voted to revoke its license. Now experts say it could take years of legal steps before the issue is resolved. This is completely unfair to taxpayers. We understand the board has no control over the court system, so it might be up to the Legislature to change the process so that this does not happen again. Perhaps developers should be given a strict deadline for making substantial progress on a casino or the license is stripped and opened to other bidders.

With no big decision hanging over its head, the Gaming Control Board can now move ahead on other fronts.

Despite the delay in the resort license and the legal issues, most notably Foxwoods’ case, the casino system in the state appears to be working smoothly.

The revenue projections have been impressive and, according to analysts who spoke at a meeting on the business of gambling a few months ago, Pennsylvania’s gaming industry could pass the struggling Atlantic City sometime next year. That would mean we would have the second-largest gambling market in the nation.